anyone put a refugium in your sump?

[John 3:16]

i have a 20 long tank for a sump and i am getting ready to partition it using baffels to reduce bubbles. i was wanting to make part of it a refugium.
1. Has anyone tried this?
2. do you have any pics?
3. what do you put in your refugium?

thanks

 

[fnj]

I just finished setting up a sump/refugium in my basement. I used a 125g tank, since it's in the basement I could make it as big as I needed. I partitioned it so that the refugium is on one side of the tank and the sump is on the other so that I could regulate the flow into thte refugium. I split one of my drains from my main tank to the refugium and allow about 200gph to flow into it. I then made some bubble baffles in the sump.

I haven't added anything yet to the refugium but I plan on about an 8" deep sand bed, 30lbs. of LR, and a couple of different macro algae. For lighting I probably will just use the LOA 65w compact pendant from home depot.

I don't have any pictures, but I do have a drawing of the design that I used. The actual sump looks exactly like the drawing.

Here's a link:
http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/frank_matthes/vwp2?.tok=bcyxSWOBdb1JiNcX&.dir=/Reef+Tank&.dnm=Final+sump+plans.jpg&.src=ph

Frank

 

[Anonymous]

Mine's losely based on this. http://www.reefs.org/library/members/s_wilson_012699/sumps.htm

I think it's Ozreef that has a really nice set up too.

My sump is cut in half lengthwise - the pumps and skimmer and what not are in the back half and the refugium is in the front half. Most of the water from the overflow goes into the sump part and some goes past it and trickles through a spray bar into the refugium part. I cut a little gap about 6 inches long in the wall dividing the two so the water overflows from the refugium back into the sump and gets pumped into the tank.

Hey, it makes sense to me

 

[esmithiii]

My sump IS a refugium.

Ernie

 

[fishfarmer]

My 20 gal long sump is partitioned into three compartments using acrylic pieces. The first is where the water enters and my skimmer sits. The middle is 16" long and has a 4" DSB, some rocks, coral frags, pods, snails, worms, brittlestars and caulerpa. I seeded it with two sources of live sand. This is lit with a 27 watt quad PC on a LOA fixture. Not the best for high light corals, but caulerpa and sargassum have grown under this. The last comparment is where my return pump sits and my kalk doser drips. Any empty spaces are filled with base rock for fragging. I'm running the water level just two thirds up from the bottom, 4" off the sandbed. My partitions are higher than the water level so I had to install a small pump over the sand bed to increase flow through the middle for the corals (This is set up as a frag farm primarily).

[ August 29, 2001: Message edited by: fishfarmer ]

 

[kjb]

Since I built my stand too darn small I was forced to get inventive with my 20gal sump. I route the overflow water to the far side in an open area which holds the heater, some smaller LR pieces with macroalgae growing on them sitting directly on the glass bottom of the tank, then some CC just about an inch deep with broadleaf caulerpa growing in it. Then I have one of those perforated tank dividers keeping it all on its side of the sump. Sitting snugly against the divider is my AquaC Urchin skimmer... this is set to take water in from the middle of the tank and return it toward the far side wall. Within this same area is the return up-take. I have this plumbed with pvc ended by a pvc tee since I thought this would both keep the intake up off the very bottom as I noticed it was suctioning itself to the floor, and it [theoretically] allows for one side to get completely clogged by an errant snail while still having full uptake capability.
I wanted to have the skimmer after the caulerpa to allow maximum nutrients to flow through the planted area, don't know if I did right.
I hope to add more substrate, and have considered having a small container with mud, etc within the large planted area, which might help encourage critter growth and keep the mud from washing away.
All this is poorly lit with a dual 20w NO flourescent fixture 24/7. I hope to get a higer output lamp some day and switch to reverse cycle with an overlap time so there is no abrupt change in pH, [again a theory].
I have a two piece hinged glass cover with the front pice cut to allow the skimmer to extend out since it is taller than the 20gal tank. This seems to help control excessive evaporation, and I have heard that there are other benefits to having a covered sump when it is planted.
Just a few critters in the sump so far, a few snails and one blue leg crab, plus whatever unseen things hitchhiked in, probably a bristleworm or three...
Note that the return pump is mounted outside the sump and next to it within the stand. I have an Eheim and like it very well, but it seemed to heat up the water, especially during this hot summer. More room in the sump tank without it anyhow, so I'm happy.
Hope that helps you come up with your own personalized plan for your situation.
kjb

 

[danmhippo]

I too, like fishfarmer, have 3 compartments in my sump. The first is a 7" DSB refugium with sea grass. I am planning on moving the sea grasses to another refugium and leaving the compartment for the mangrove I just ordered after they acclimized to full strength salt water. (BTW, luckily I spend extra $$ to custom order the stand to 42" tall, otherwise, I would have trouble to house the mangroves now!)

The second compartment is for my equipments, skimmer, heater...etc. After the baffle, the last compartment is intentionally left empty to accumulate detritus (for future removal) and the return to the main tank.

The under cabinet is original lit by 2 13W LOA. The algae grows, but slowly. I have just did a modification by removing the LOA and installed a 48" PC retrofit kit (without the canopy). Now, the lights are brighter in the cabinet than the main tank! I guess its time to replace the MH bulbs.

[ August 29, 2001: Message edited by: danmhippo ]

 

[max spl]

here a pic of my sump before it was filled (had to cut/paste two picture so it's not a great picture):

here is the sump empty:

i made the baffles WAY too high (about 4-5" from the top).. that's probably the only change i would make if i had to do it over again. other than that, it works well

[ August 30, 2001: Message edited by: max spl ]

 

[kjb]

Reading the post from max spl I just remembered that I once had baffles in my first work-up of a sump which were like max's too high. I found this out the hard way when I cut the power to the return pump and all the water above the return nozzles in the tank flowed back down into the tank. I tried a stop-valve but it seemed to both restrict the flow and be less than perfect, allowing a small trickle of water past it back into the sump... enough of that and the sump would overflow.
In short, I keep enough air space in the sump to handle all the water that might drain back from the tank during a power outage.
kjb